Charlton boss Lee Bowyer has his say on disagreement between Omar Bogle and Conor Washington over penalty-taking duties at Gillingham
BY LOUIS MENDEZ
Every striker wants to break their duck for a new club as soon as possible so it was no surprise to see Omar Bogle try and take Charlton’s penalty at Gillingham – but boss Lee Bowyer says it’s right that designated spot-kick taker Conor Washington was given the opportunity from 12 yards.
Bogle was felled, albeit with very little force, at a corner shortly before the break and picked up the ball himself to take the spot-kick. He was over-ruled by assistant manager Johnnie Jackson, who said that Washington was to step forward.
The Northern Ireland international, who did score from the spot against Fleetwood two weeks ago, saw his effort well saved by home keeper Jack Bonham.
The hosts would go on to take the lead through a penalty of their own before Chuks Aneke rescued a deserved, late point for the South Londoners.
Bowyer said he understood why Bogle wanted to take responsibility for the spot-kick.
The Addicks boss explained: “Omar, he got fouled. Well, he was involved in the penalty. So, he naturally wants to score. He hasn’t scored yet for us.
“Conor is our penalty taker and rightly so. He took the penalty and it was a good penalty but it was a great save. Conor hit the perfect penalty and it was a great save. Sometimes, it happens. That’s what goalies are paid to do.
“But Omar, I said to Omar that he’ll get his chances and he’ll score goals. But it’s difficult for strikers, they want to score all the time. But once he gets one he will go on and get a run of goals.
“Omar Bogle does a lot of hard work for the team. He does a lot of the dirty work, tires them out and wears them down and then Chuks comes on and gets all the glory.
“Chuks, it was another good finish. Before he would have lashed at that but this time it was touched, composed and passed into the goal. I’m pleased for Chuks but Omar has got to take a little bit of credit for that because he made it hard work for their centre-halves today.”
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